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Flying High, Flying Home

Posted Mar 30, 2013
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

The Blue Jackets spent last night in Calgary, basking in the glow of a rare road win and an especially rare high-scoring road win. They beat the Flames 6-4 thanks to goals from six different players and a credible performance by back-up goaltender Steve Mason.

"I felt like we deserved to win this game," said defenseman Dalton Prout, who played a big role outside the scoring columns, registering a decisive fight win over Calgary's Tim Jackman and matching a franchise record with a plus-4 rating. "It wasn't always pretty, and it's not the way we've played when we've been playing well. But when we needed to get the puck out of the zone, we did, and when Mase needed to make a big save for us, he did."

It said something about the resilience of this club, too. Playing for the third time in four games -- and a long way from home, I might add -- the Blue Jackets pushed through weary legs to outpace the Flames most of the night.

The six goals was the most the Blue Jackets have scored in a road game - win or lose - since Oct. 24, 2009, a 6-4 win in Anaheim. That was 133 road games ago.

Before this Thursday-Friday twinbill with the NHL's Alberta clubs, the Blue Jackets hadn't scored more than three goals in a road game all season. They lost 6-4 in Edmonton on Thursday.

"We've got some things we can work on," said Mason, who had 29 saves for his first win since Feb. 11. "We had some weird bounces go in, too, though. I'm sure (coach Todd Richards) will have some stuff for us to go over when we get to the rink on Sunday."

The Blue Jackets are flying home today only one point out of the Stanley Cup playoff picture. Imagine that.

The win vaulted the Blue Jackets from 13th to 10th in the Western Conference. But the standings are turbulent place right now. Six points separates eighth-place St. Louis from 14th place Calgary, and the pecking order is changing daily.

Side dishes:

-- The Blue Jackets have an 11-game point streak at home, going 8-0-3 since a 3-1 loss to Edmonton on Feb. 5. It's on the line Sunday vs. Anaheim, which arrived in Columbus on Friday night while the Blue Jackets were still in Calgary.

-- The Friday win makes March 2013 the winningest month in Blue Jackets history. Yep. They are 9-2-4 this month, a 22-point month that surpasses March 2009 (9-4-2) and December 2006 (9-5-2).

-- Blue Jackets doctors will look at left winger Nick Foligno, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. He was hit by Vancouver's Alex Edler, appearing to take the brunt of impact in the shoulder area. It wasn't a flush hit, but more of a partial clipping. He's day-to-day, but no idea yet if he plays on Sunday.

-- Jackets D Tim Erixon and RW Jared Boll left Friday's game with injury, too. Erixon got hit by Calgary behemoth Chris McGrattan and may have an upstairs disturbance. The club is saying its a upper body. Don't know about Boll.

-- Typical conversation from scouts or fellow writers during/after games these days: "Who the hell is Dalton Prout?" What they mean is, where did this kid come from? He was very good again last night, obviously. Big, tough, engaged ... and he moves pretty well, too.

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